Change of Heart
by Elegant Solution
Summary: [Across the Universe] JudeLucy.  Lucy's reflections on carrying Jude's child.  One shot, short, emotional, slightly fluffy.  I'm in love with these characters, so I hope I got them right. Slight Spoilers inside, but not in summary.


**I'm not sure if I got Lucy's line from the movie 100 correct as she said it, but it's pretty close and a I thought it would be a good way to start off the fic. **

"_It's so narcissistic. Putting out little carbon copies of yourself and being like oh he has his father's eyes or his mother's lips, I'm never having children."_

Lucy hadn't changed her mind about that. She really hadn't. Not even when she discovered she was carrying Jude's child. They had been together for two years now after reuniting on the rooftop during Sadie's concert. They hadn't left the comfort of each other's arms since then and it had been a blissful peace in just being with one another. That's all they were doing. Just being.

It felt strange to have a living being growing inside of her. She remembered when her mother was pregnant with her younger sisters and how her stomach had expanded. Lucy could never imagine her belly getting that big. Her fingers ran lightly over the still smooth, taut flesh of her stomach before everything churned inside and she spit the bile out into the toilet. So much for the breakfast she had just eaten.

She wasn't unhappy, she was just indifferent. It took Jude some time to get used to at first. It was an initial state of shock for both and Jude was worried about being able to support them and their child.

"I could…you know…get…rid of it," Lucy said one evening, having a hard time getting those words out.

Jude's dark eyes flashed wide and then grew angry.

"No, Lucy, you just can't. We can do this," Jude told her as he reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly before brushing his lips against her knuckles.

Lucy merely nodded her head. She was still so young and not sure if she was ready to be a mother yet. But she took one look into Jude's brown eyes and knew that she could do this.

"Lucy, darling, you need to eat," Jude told her softly.

"I'm not hungry," she sighed as she ran her hands over her protruding stomach.

"But perhaps the baby is?" Jude asked, seeing a great amount of sadness in her eyes and he wanted to help it go away.

Lucy merely shrugged her shoulders as the silent tears rolled down her face. Max's warm hands squeezed her shoulders and placed a kiss on top of her silky blonde hair.

"Luce, please eat? Don't insult my cooking skills, I know it's not that bad," Max said with a wry grin.

That was just like her older brother, always trying to make a joke so she would feel better. She knew he cared deeply for her, but his comment just made her feel much worse and the tears came harder. Max stroked her hair before looking at Jude in defeat.

"Sorry, man, I tried."

She didn't feel ready to be a mother. The timing wasn't right, everything was wrong, she couldn't handle it. She loved Jude with all her heart, but they weren't ready to be parents yet. Even the drawings he made of her with her pregnant belly and ones he had created with his own mind with her holding a baby in her arms would make her cringe. She felt like all those girls from her high school she had pitied that had gotten married right after graduation and got knocked up the day after it seemed. She felt like her own blue blooded mother who had married at a young age and had produced four perfect, well almost perfect, children, becoming the picture perfect family that was the envy of the town. Lucy hadn't changed her mind, she really hadn't.

But eventually she had. The labor was agony because somehow she had let Prudence talk her out of having an epidural. Childbirth should be all natural her ass. Her brow was covered in sweat as she grunted, grinding her teeth together with each push. Her body would only allow her to relax once the baby's cries filled the room. She felt Jude squeeze her hand tightly.

"I love you," he whispered, pressing their lips together.

"I love you too," she panted, twisting her lips into a smile.

She held the little pink bundle in her arms later and couldn't stop gazing at her newborn daughter. Everything seemed so perfect, those little fingers, those little toes, the little nose and the little everything.

"Lucy, she's so beautiful," Prudence smiled from her perch on the desk next to the hospital bed.

"She's going to be a heartbreaker some day," Max chuckled as Lucy reluctantly allowed her dear brother to hold his niece.

"Yeah, but she'll have three men willing to beat the boys away," Sadie laughed as she sat in Jo-Jo's lap.

"No talk of the boys yet, it's still too early," Jude smiled.

"She has her father's eyes you know," Lucy beamed up at him.


End file.
